Dorkination
by dwellingonephemeraldreams
Summary: Oneshot. Why does James Potter mess up his hair at every possible opportunity? Lily and James. 4th year.


"Sirius, I really don't think this is going to work."

"Trust me, James; Lily adores the neat, dorky type because she _is _one. And what else screams neat and dorky than a flat hairdo? You already have the glasses, so all we did was straighten your uniform up and put some of this Muggle gel stuff on your hair. Not that much of a difference, if you ask me."

Normally, James Potter would have hit Sirius Black for that comment, but he was much too nervous at that moment to care. Summer holidays have come and gone, and when he went back to Hogwarts for the 4th time, he found the "dorky" (but simultaneously hot-headed) Lily Evans transformed. She had most certainly filled out nicely, and her hair no longer seemed to be the mess it was for the past three years. She still considered it messy, sure, but this time, it actually accentuated her soft, pretty face instead of constantly falling on it.

But to James, Lily's most changed feature was her smile. James had never really seen her do it, but since she seemed to have gained the whole Hogwarts population as friends over the holidays, her smiles became more frequent. And stunning. Yes, her smile was definitely stunning. James had spent ages describing to his best mate, Sirius, how it lit up the room-no, the castle- and the various emotions she can convey with a slight turn of her mouth. But Sirius, after all, was a 14 year old boy that can only tolerate so much of James's "lovesick, pathetic whining", and told him to "ask the girl out to Hogsmeade, snog her senseless, and she'll give you the biggest smile you'll ever see, or I swear I'll do it for you". James did ask her out, but he was met with a glare and a very cold "no, thank you."

"_Aww, Evans, why not?"_

"_Because you're an arrogant prat that thinks he can get with asking anyone out just because you're a big Quidditch hero." And Lily Evans walked off._

That was last week. Upon hearing his mate's quite embarrassing rejection, Sirius took it upon himself to transform James into the opposite of a big Quidditch hero- the neat, dorky type.

"Sirius, where the hell did you even get that Muggle gel stuff?" Their other friend, Remus Lupin, was sitting on his bed, reading. He had refused to take part in the dorkination, as Sirius put it, and Peter Pettigrew, who completed the group they named The Marauders, was currently doing detention for attempting to slip McGonagall some love potion.

"Never mind _that_, Remus, just look how successful my dorkination is! Evans will be head over heels over him in a second!"

"Dorkination isn't even a word… But yes, James, you do look rather… different." Remus was fighting a losing battle against the urge to laugh.

"Sirius, once again, I really, really don't think this will make her want to go to Hogsmeade with me." James had been too afraid to look in the mirror, so he had no idea how he looked. Remus's peals of laughter were enough to form an image in his head, however.

"Oh, stop being a girl and just give it a try, will you? It's not like you're not gonna lose anything."

"Only my dignity." James muttered darkly.

"Good luck!" Remus called out as the other two boys went down to the Gryffindor Common room. Lily was not there, however, and it was almost a 100% guarantee that if she wasn't in the common room, she was in the library. It was only 8 pm, after all.

James let out a very loud groan. People were already starting to stare at the ever popular Quidditch chaser and undoubtedly wondering why he looked so… dorky.

"I have to go down there looking like _this_?"

"You better." Sirius shot him a glare. "Dorkination takes quite some effort, thank you very much, and I will not let that effort go to waste."

Reluctantly and with a lot of grumbling, James and Sirius headed down to what Lily must consider heaven- the school library. They had to go through the mountainous shelves and what seemed like endless staring (sniggering from the Slytherins) before they found their intended target alone, scribbling away about some pointless event 200 years ago. Lily had barely glanced up when a look of horror settled on her face.

"Oh, no." James thought frantically. "That look… that look is the opposite of a smile."

"Potter… what on earth have you done with your hair?" Strangely enough, Lily ignored the fact that his usual casual-at-best uniform was ironed, with his shirt tucked in and the top button done up so his tie was as tight as tight could be.

"I've…" James turned to Sirius for help, but his dorkinator had mysteriously disappeared "I've been dorkinated?" He tossed in his infamous grin for good measure.

"That's not even a word. And is that… is that _gel?_"

"Uh, yea. Sirius thought it might look good on me."

"It doesn't."

"Oh." But before he could think of some witty reply, Lily had gotten up from the chair and reached up to his head.

"Evans, what are you…" James started in alarm.

"Shut it, I'm rescuing you from what is possibly the worst hairstyle I've ever seen." Her hands were going through his hair, messing it up and giving James a new sort of warm feeling in his chest. He wasn't prepared for the long fingers that were running across his scalp, and when his eyes darted down he could see that she was standing on her toes, which he found adorable. But then he looked up again and realised that what was _really _adorable was how her nose was slightly scrunched up and she was biting her lower lip out of concentration. Concentration. Lily Evans was concentrating on his hair. His stomach did a flip at that realisation and he couldn't help a grin from forming. Unfortunately, that grin was what made Lily stop. That, and the feeling he got that his hair was sticking up in every direction possible.

"Potter, why the hell are you smiling like a- never mind, I just realised I don't care." She had gone back to her normal height and was gathering her books and parchment, presumably about to go back to the common room. "Your hair looks acceptable now, I suppose."

"Evans, since you seem to like mussing up my hair so much, how would you like to do so in Hogsmeade?

"Ask me again in about ten years, Potter, and I just might consider it." Lily had started to walk off, but she turned back again "Oh, and make sure never to let Sirius… dorkinate you again. Horrible results, really." Uncharacteristically, she gave him a quick smile that made his heart rate go just a tiny bit faster, and then she was gone.

James could have sworn the lights in the library got brighter just after she smiled. He pushed that thought away, though, because he had to make sure to remember one thing: Never _ever _let his hair resemble anything close to neat and dorkinated.


End file.
